The present invention related generally to cutting blade structures for rotary lawn mowers, trimmers, edgers and the like and, more particularly, to an improved cutting blade structure and method of cutting vegetation characterized by use of a flexible planar member formed of a plurality of interconnected elongate tubular segments which when rotated, contact and effectively cut vegetation.
As is well known, a variety of cutting blade structures have heretofore been utilized in the prior art for cutting vegetation with such devices comprising conventional metal blade reel and rotary lawn mowers, edgers, string trimmers, de-thatchers, and the like. Although all of these prior art structures have been generally suitable for their intended purpose, they all have possessed inherent deficiencies which have detracted from their overall effectiveness in the commercial and/or residential marketplace.
Foremost of the deficiencies in the prior art has been the propensity of such prior art devices to cause injury to a user of the cutting equipment or damage to structures and/or property in close proximity to the cutting site. Such injury and damage has been typically caused by the rigid metal cutting blade or portion thereof utilized on the equipment sheering or breaking off during use and being propelled airborne at high velocity to contact the user and/or nearby property or structures. Additionally, such rigid prior art devices oftentimes propel rocks, branches, or other debris contained within the vegetation being cut to similarly cause personal injury or property damage during use. Further, guards and/or mounting brackets on the prior art device oftentimes work loose from the equipment and upon contacting the prior art cutting tool are similarly propelled air borne posing a severe safety threat to the user.
Although many of these safety deficiencies have been recognized in the prior art, the proposed solutions to date have typically comprised the use of string trimmers or semi-rigid cutting blade structures on the vegetation cutting equipment which have proven limited in application due to their extremely short effective life span or their failure to be universally retrofit on the vast variety of vegetation cutting apparatus currently being utilized in the art. Further, with respect to the prior art semi-rigid cutting blade structures, such devices although reducing the safety hazards of rigid metal cutting blades, have typically possessed high mass and thereby still pose a significant possibility of personal injury or property damage during use. Examples of such prior art devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,104,510 issued to Voight; U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,878, issued to Bonforte; U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,832 issued to Hetrich; U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,018 issued to Schrock et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,913 issued to Fisher et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,176,455 issued to Buchanan.
In addition to the safety deficiencies associated with the prior art cutting blade devices, the improved safety cutting blade devices have typically been very costly and/or have possessed deficient wear resistance properties which have detracted from their overall acceptance and use in the marketplace.
Thus, there exists a substantial need in the art for an improved cutting blade which possesses a low mass and flexible construction to reduce personal injury or property damage, is relatively low cost, has sufficient wear life for extended effective use and, can be formed in various configurations, elongate, square, triangular, etc. to allow retrofitting of the cutting blade to the various cutting tool structures and cutting applications currently being utilized in the prior art for instance edging, trimming, mowing and the like.